Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week, I have learned about microaggression and its impact on others. Dr. Sue defines microaggression as brief everyday indignities that may be verbal, behavioral, or environmental (Laureate Education, 2011). These messages can be communicated intentionally or unintentionally. Microaggressions happen outside the level of awareness of well-intentioned individuals and reflect views of superiority or exclusion (Laureate Education, 2011). 

In observing and thinking about microaggression, I realize that they occur more often than I thought. Throughout the week, I was able to detect several examples of microaggression in conversations, in the news, and on television. 

The one I am that impacted me the most was on one of my favorite reality television shows, L.A. Hair. I wasn’t looking for any unintended insults but noticed it towards the end of the show. One of the hair stylists was opening up her own salon. She invited all her friends to visit and see the new place. As everyone was having drinks, one of the ladies, who is a nail artist asked did she plan to have a nail artist at her salon. She said “yes, I will definitely have to hire some Asians because they do the best work”. When I heard this, I immediately thought about this week’s course work. The stylist did not mean to insult. The hidden message was that she believed that all Asians did great nail work. The stylist wanted quality workers throughout her new salon and because of her past experiences she assumed the best nail artist would be Asian. She did not intend to cause any harm or stress. 

This week’s observations made me realize that microaggressions are very powerful. They can impact people more than ‘old fashion racism’ (Laureate Education, 2011). In order to grow as a society, we must work to prevent these microaggressions by speaking up, speaking out, and learning to interact in diverse circles. We must learn to connect with one another of all cultures as human and respect and embrace differences as uniqueness.

Reference

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 For this assignment, I talked to my husband, mother, and fellow colleague of a different race. I believe that they represented three very different viewpoints. They are all outspoken people that love to share what they know. I believed that their responses would allow me to get enough information to reflect on others views of culture and diversity. 

In asking about culture and diversity, everyone spoke of race and ethnicity as a foundation of their definition. My husband and mother both included family as part of their definition. My friend spoke of her surroundings and environment in which one lives as part of one’s culture. All three people spoke of diversity as differences of people in various cultures. These are all examples of what I learned about culture and diversity through this course.

Reflecting about what I have learned in this course, some aspects of culture and diversity was omitted in their definition. In their definition of culture, no one mention gender, foods, clothing, or social classes. Some included family as part of their definition but did not include values, morals, and traditions you learn from one’s family. These are all important aspects of culture and diversity that was missing from their definition. 

Thinking about and reflecting on others' views of culture and diversity, made me have a better understanding of others' views. It helps me to have a deeper understanding of my learning thus far in this course. It also allowed me to share my learning with others. This assignment allowed me to acknowledge and respect others' views and perspective and reflect on how their view’s help me to redefine my own views of these terms. 

My Family Culture

I am pursuing a graduate certificate from Walden. I am in my second class entitled Perspectives on Diversity and Equity. This week, I am exploring my own family culture with this blog post assignment.

The assignment’s scenario is the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

This assignment really made me think about what things are important to me. With a lot of family deaths in the last 6 years, I no longer value things but people. It took me a long time to think about what three items that would represent and remind me of my family culture.

The first item I would take is the Holy Bible. God is the foundation of my faith, beliefs, and values. This book will continue to guide me and my immediate family through the new unfamiliar circumstances. God is the center of who I am. I grew up in a household where prayer was the norm. We use the Bible as a guide to finding answers, praying, and learning more about my faith. Also, the Bible will help me to teach my children about God’s love, mercy, and grace.

The second item I would choose is my Big Mama’s recipe book. After my Big Mama (maternal grandmother) passed away, my aunt collected and wrote down as many of my grandmother’s recipes that she could remember. My grandmother was the root of our family. She was always preparing meals, desserts, or biscuits for one occasion or another. As our family continues to gather for holidays and special occasions, we use her recipes to remember her. Food, particular those recipes, reminds me so much of family and how important family relationships are to me.

The third item I would take is my family’s photo/memory book. This book has a lot of old family pictures, newspaper clippings, and letters from my extended family. This book holds a lot of family history and memories. Anytime this book is brought out, my family and I are told stories of various family members. The book brings joy, laughter, and helps us all to remember family and the family history.  This book helps me to really connect to my family, some I know/knew and some that I never met.

If upon arrive to this foreign country, I was told that I could only keep one item I would keep the Holy Bible. I believe that my faith must be kept strong during this difficult time. I believe that with knowing that God will see me through this event, I could leave all other worldly things behind. Like I stated, dealing with the recent loss of close family members have changed my mind about personal things. I believe that my faith of knowing that I will see extended family once again in Heaven will help me with not being able to take the recipe or memory book.

 
This assignment has allowed me to explore more of who I am because of who my family is. My family has shaped me into the woman I am today. Family culture is what shapes each individual as unique beings. This assignment affirms that for me. Without my family and that foundation, I would be a different person.